When the sun sinks to his coral caves,
When winds sleep on the dark blue waves,
When th' ocean bird is gone to rest,
And ling'ring twilight dies in th' West;
When tapers of Heav'n appear on high,
And small white clouds float slowly by,
When the moon rises over the sea,-

Then Mary, my love, I'll come to Thee!
So sang sweet voices 'mid the charm of Home,
Forgotten not, though distant we might roam;
So may they oft repeat those sounds again,
On our return from this drear wat'ry plain.

As oft as darkness and the sea unite,
Under the sable canopy of night;

So Heavenly tapers, shining stars well nam'd,
Prove ample source for contemplation fram'd.
In southern hemisphere, the southern cross
Forms those which oft the seaman's thoughts engross;
Apart from others in clear space they stand,
Useful at sea as well as on the land;
To voyager, seaman, they lend good aid
To find their places under nightly shade:
Lost to the North, with pointers to its pole,
The South reveals the Cross to save the soul!
Glorious reflection for the son of man,
Or humblest sailor since the world began.
These occupations on the lonely main,
With many more unnoticed that remain,
Weather admitting, are enough t' employ
Each one among us, from grown man to boy.
And should bad weather not allow this train
Of duties to be done, we turn again
To others, which ship's reckoning concern,
Where chiefly navigation has its turn:
With such pursuits as books and letters find,
To cheer the spirits and employ the mind.

Our voyage to the Cape, tedious and long
Was likely to be; South-West winds are strong
And in our teeth, too, off the Cape of Storms;
As Diaz found, because perhaps it forms
Of Africa, the most projecting part
Towards the South, where heavy seas impart
Mischief and trouble to the ship that sails
To East or West, in furious winter gales.
Yet gales or calm, are much about the same
To those between decks, busy at some game,
Or chess, or drafts, or book of various name.

What is it that occasions so much mirth,
And joyful merriment in the middy's berth?
"Tis some old scrap of paper obsolete,
Though old 'tis fresh as ever, and a treat
To those by dim light daily doom'd to meet;
And nightly too, with which they're glad to greet
Each one; a careful scrap-book, well preserved,
Supplies fresh store of treasure unreserved:
An extract from the British Queen explain'd
All this; which something nautical retain'd,
And thus ran lines, which middy's glee had gain'd.

"In days of yore, when Virgil wrote his lyrics,
"And deities were fond of metaphysics;

"Eolus kept the winds, and Juno would wear breeches,
"She thus the God most coaxingly beseeches.

"Eolus you know I hate long speeches;
"My husband, Jupiter, the king of heaven,
"To you, my excellent good friend, hath given
"Dominion o'er winds, tempests, clouds, and all,
"To calm the waves, or raise them by a squall:
"Now on the sea there sails the man I hate,
"Carrying off his furniture and plate;

"Summon your

fiercest whirlwinds, work your bellows,
"Sink all his ships, and drown me all those follows;
"Twice seven prime casks of Meux' double X ale
"Lie in my cellar, mellow, fat, and pale:-
"The strongest, fullest of these casks will I
"Bestow on thee, to wet thy lips when dry!
"Such beer, so rich, so unctuous, sure will please,
"And give a relish to thy bread and cheese.

"To whom thus Eolus replies:-'Tis thine,
"Oh, Queen, to order,-and to obey is mine!
"Thou didst my kingdom, and my power bestow,
""Twas thou who first did teach me how to blow;
"To thee my bellows. and my crown I owe!

"Thus having spoke he struck the mountains side,
"Swiftly the winds, in overwhelming tide,
"The stormy East, the West, the South, the North,
"Whistling through every vent, with joy burst forth,
"On frighted sea, uncheck'd they raging roam,
"And lash the angry billows into foam!

"Then creaked the decks, masts bent, ships heel'd, and then "Was heard the oaths, and curses of the men; NC. 9.-VOL. XXXV.

3 Q

"

"

O'er the spoil'd sea, the murky clouds hung close, So dark, the pilot could not see his nose;

Flash'd the fork'd lightnings, and the thunder's war, Shook the spent ship, while wave on wave broke o'er; "The screaming sea-gulls seemed in scorn to mock her, "And all hands turn'd their eyes on Davy's locker!

"This hubbub puts the hated man in funk,
"Quickly he bolts a piece of hard salt junk:
"Oh thrice and four times is he bless'd, he cries,
"Who in his bed-room comfortably dies!
"To brave the tempest, all were found took weak,
"Some were capsiz'd, and others sprung a leak.

"At length this uproar and strange hurly burly,
"Awoke old Neptune, who with looks most surly;
"Popp'd up his head above the troubled ocean,
"He sees the elements in wild commotion;
"Our hero's fleet scatter'd o'er the main,

"The sailors struggling 'gainst the storm in vain.
"Knowing at once 'twas one of Juno's freaks,
"He call the East and West winds, and thus speaks:
"Is it your birth that leads you thus to dare

My power? presumptuous bla'guards as you are, "To veil the skies with your vile clouds and fogs, "And without by your leave,' rain cats and dogs? "By Jingo, I'll but first we'll stop this fun, "Then you shall dearly pay for what you've done, "Be off! ond tell your windy bellied king, "The sea's not his, nor Trident, no such thing; "But mine! Let Eolus give up this tone, "Shut up his bollows, and let me alone; "Tell him to be contented with my rocks, "And shut his winds up under patent locks.

"He spoke and bade the ocean cease from riot, "Restor❜d the sun and bade the clouds be quiet, "Cimotheï and Triton, striving, cast

"From off the rocks, the ships that had stuck fast; "Neptune himself with his potato fork,

"Lends them a hand, and so they make short work. "He makes all right, then o'er the tranquil stream, "Glides in his easy car propell'd by steam.

"As when two fishfags fierce contention wage,
"On either side, while shouting mobs engage,
"And mud, with compliments, is freely flung,
"Rage supplies weapons from the vulgar tongue.

"Then on a sudden, if the mob behold

"The parish constable, their zeal grows cold,-
"They look, stop short, and greet him with a laugh,
"He calms their minds, and soothes them with his staff!
"So the contention of the billows ceased:

"The father of the waves beholds well pleas'd
"The calm; and in his car of ten horse power,
"Skims o'er the waves at twenty knots an hour!"

'Tis very likely fancies such as these,
By ancients done, or not, upon the seas,
(A travesty in fact on deities)
Are calculated very well to please
Youthful aspirants of the naval corps,
(Besides their elders who may be on shore)
In middy's album's entertaining lore:
The leisure, too, perhaps that these can find,
Has room for purposes of every kind.
For, those who lean on occupation's arm,
Know well, variety has its charm!

Assisted by the current, we progress'd
With wind unfavor'd, daily to the west;
And how propitious to these constant wants
Of seamen following their daily haunts:
Let not the navigator e'er complain

'Gainst wand'ring currents on the restless main:
All-wise Providence means them for his good,
As they're acknowledg'd when they're understood.
Currents and their contras are really meant,
To forward navigator's full intent!
When one runs this way, and another that,
It is but nature's compromising act:
For when a mass of water thus is hurl'd
From one part to another of the world
"Tis but the redistributing of weight,
That serves to keep th' equilibrium straight:
The counter current we have here enjoy'd
Must be intended to complete a void
Somewhere, and setting too against the wind
Produces waves of an enormous kind
Which (it is said) are found of every shape
By navigators off this stormy cape!
And more than this, for even worse than all,
Are those, of which, the sides are like a wall!
Doubtless the elements can account for this,
Though laws supreme, to man may seem amiss.
Currents 'tis thought are but the effect of wind:-
Erroneous thought; for seamen sometimes find

The current first, and this in quiet calm,
When winds are absent, nought to portend harm,
Sea's surface smooth, to banish all alarm.
"Tis thus by faithless elements betray'd,
And stealthy currents least suspected aid,
A vessel's lost by drifting on a shoal;
Then next day comes the wind, perhaps a whole
Gale, and from the same quarter far away
As came the current of the previous day!
Currents like these to seamen are well known,
Yet not to all;-for some are not yet grown
In ocean lore;- -a theme these currents make
That's much despis'd;-yet one for its own sake,
That should receive th' attention that is due

To education nautical and true:

The currents of the ocean, let him learn,

Whose thoughts, while young, unto that ocean turn.
(To be continued.)

LYING-TO IN A STORK.

As time rolls on, I have the satisfaction of remarking that my theories, on more than one subject, are correct, and at no distant period will overturn the old-fashioned ideas to which Englishmen so tenaciously cling, until overwhelming proofs of their fallacy are brought forward.

W. C. P. gives an excellent description (in the August number), of the saving of the Pioneer, when hove-to in a hurricane off the island of St. Paul's. If she had been fitted with engines, and they turned slowly a-head, so as to carry out the idea of "bowing the sea" she could not have withstood the shock of those awful waves under the lee of which the tired sea birds sought momentary shelter from the furious wind. I shall always be of opinion that if the machinery of the London had broken down when the gale commenced, she would now have been afloat.

W. C. P. is quite correct when he states that head sails are dangerous to heave to under, because in addition to paying off the ship's head, their lifting, and consequently depressing power is highly dangerous. So much am I convinced of the necessity of avoiding carrying any sail in bad weather on a bow-line which has a lifting tendency, that in steam ships 350 feet long, I always, in a head sea, take in all fore and aft canvas which is before the foremast, although the engines may be going at full speed at the time. The loss occasioned by shortening sail is more than compensated by the easy